One of the breakthrough insights I had in therapy for depression was that if I've thought something to myself a thousand times and I haven't been able to come up with a decent answer or solution then thinking it a thousand and one times or a thousand and two times is not going to help or be productive. 💙

When I heard that ruminative thought start to come through and I'd set off on that train of thought I'd stop it, stop it straight away and try to distract yourself or think about something else.💙

So for example, "why didn't I do something different" for any given specific example? "Why didn't I do something different? Why didn't I do X? Why didn't I do Y? Why didn't I do Z?"

As soon as you start going down that path, stop that and say to yourself, "I've done this a thousand times a thousand and one is not going to help". 💙

That was a really important lesson for me early in therapy to help me recover from depression. 💙

You also need to be your own biggest ally in this. You have to want to stop thinking these ruminative thoughts. You have to be tired of thinking them, so tired that you welcome the relief from stopping the rumination.💙

If you still get some solace from disappearing into them, you won't really want to stop. Let's say your personal "I'm sick of it!" number is 1,000 repetitions. If you're at 500 repetitions of that thought, you won't stop. You're not sick of it enough. You're still getting something from it.💙

Obviously, everyone's "sick of it" number is different. Mine was probably a million. And when I found out, through therapy, that there was a different way I could think, I was probably at 5 million repetitions. I was exhausted. But, from that day, I was done with following the rumination train of destruction.💙